At the beginning of February, my colleague Torbjörn at Skogsforum.se visited an Eco Log 1050F forwarder operating in a young thinning. A few days later, Eco Log announced that they are closing the production of the old “Gremo range”. That means Eco Log 1050F and 1250F. So, the machine described in this article could be one of the last “Gremos” made.
This is an article signed Torbjörn Johnsen at Skogsforum.se
Eco Log 1050F – A forwarder with a long green history
The machine Torbjörn visited is owned by the contractor ELA Skogsservice and operated by David Samuelsson. The yellow 1050F was delivered after the summer of last year and is one of the last of that model delivered in Sweden.
The Eco Log 1050F is identical to the Gremo 1050F that was built in south Sweden by the company Gremo. In its turn, the Gremo 1050 was a further development of the 950 which was produced in vast numbers. The Gremo forwarders were very popular in southern Sweden and many of them have been given a “second life” by private forest owners. 
Good package solution
David, the operator of the machine, has a Gremo 1050F at home at the farm. After forestry school, he was drafted as a forwarder operator by ELA Skogsservice. ELA is a relatively large forestry contractor and David used to work extra for them during his studies operating a Komatsu 895 forwarder on clear cuts.
ELA decided to start a thinning group and therefore needed operators and machines. As David had a good experience with his Gremo 1050F, the Eco Log 1050F suited him just fine. Both David and the Eco Log started working for ELA last summer. When David is not operating the Eco Log he works at the family farm which has both cattle and forest land.
Operates like with IBC
It was amazing to see David operating the Eco Log forwarder. Despite his young age, he operates the crane very efficiently, especially with the telescope. It was as if he had IBC, Intelligent Boom Control on the machine.
The telescope is much faster than the main boom when loading and unloading. A combination of education and experience with the Gremo 950 at home seems to have made David a skilled operator. 
Mini-Bruunett class
Eco Log 1050F is the of the larger forwarders* that has the best loading index. Even though this machine has a modern cabin, a good working environment, and a sturdy crane, the load index is like that of the old Mini-Bruunett. The load index indicates the machine’s weight compared to its payload. Load index 1 means that machine weight and payload are the same. The smallest forwarders come close to load index 1 but the 9 – 10 tonners normally only reach 0,62 – 0,71 meaning that the machine weight is much higher than the payload. Here, the Eco Log 1050F is an exception with a load index of 0,87.
You can read more about forwarders for thinning and their load index in a previous article here.
Expensive to make?
As mentioned above Eco Log has decided to close the production of the old “Gremo range”. One reason for that seems to be that the range doesn’t fit into the production process at the Eco Log factory. One can guess that the 1050 and 1250 causes many special solutions in a streamlined and modern factory adapted to another machine range.
One reason that the 1050F has a good load index is that Gremo put a lot of effort into weight-optimizing the steel in the machines. This, and other construction solutions may be difficult to maintain in a production line that produces both forwarders and harvesters of all sizes, like in the Eco Log factory.
Another issue that must be considered is that the Swedish market for 9 – 10-ton forwarders has decreased. More forwarding in thinning is made today by forwarders up to 15 tons. Last year, only two 1050F forwarders were delivered in Sweden.
Eco Log has announced that there could be small forwarders in the range also in the future. The question is if it will be a development of the 1050F or a completely new machine.
The last 1050?
Whether Eco Log has sold any more 1050s this year in Sweden, will be clarified when we receive the registration statistics for Q1. If not, this could be a historic machine. The last 1050F sold in Sweden?
*forwarders with a payload of 9 – 25 tons
Photos: Torbjörn Johnsen
